I'm a long-time Forbes and ForbesWoman writer. I cover entertainment, celebrities, trends, models, and female-oriented stories. My first book, "Can't Think Straight: A Memoir of Mixed-Up Love" was featured on The Today Show, The Joy Behar Show, in Marie Claire, The New York Post, The New York Times, the AOL home page, and other outlets. I have also written for New York, The Village Voice, The Frisky, Marie Claire, Arrive, and the New York Post. I've appeared as an entertainment expert on shows like Inside Edition, Entertainment Tonight, and E! Television. I graduated from The Columbia School of Journalism. Please visit me at kiriblakeley.com or Writings of Kiri Blakeley on Facebook or Twitter: @KiriBlakeley.

5/04/2011 @ 4:17PM52,787 views

Marie Osmond Marries Her First Husband -- Again

Osmond, who married Stephen Craig 30 years ago—and then divorced him three years later—re-tied the knot with him in Las Vegas today.

Osmond and Craig have one son, Stephen, now 28, from their original union. After their divorce, Osmond went on to have seven children with her second husband, Brian Blosil, whom she divorced in 2007.

The concept of re-marrying an ex-spouse is a perplexing blend of hope and stupidity. Is this a case of the ultimate triumph of a relationship’s progress—that after a split, a couple can once again fall for their ex’s good qualities, rekindle the spark that drew them together, and yet have successfully worked through the problems that, previously, drove them to divorce court?

Or is this the ultimate duh! and the same problematic dynamic that forced a couple to split the first time around is sure to still be in play to wedge them apart once more? Is remarrying one’s ex the triumph of hope and maturity—or the inability to learn a lesson the first time?

In the celebrity world, at least, it seems to be the latter. Remarrying an ex tends to lead to the same event the first marriage led to: divorce. Second time is not the charm.

A few examples:

Elizabeth Taylor divorced Richard Burton in 1974 after ten years of marriage, only to remarry him a year later. This time, the marriage barely lasted only six months. The issues that had forced them apart—boozing, mostly, both his and hers—were still there. Taylor was angling for yet another reconciliation with Burton when he ran off with his make-up artist, Sally, and married her instead. They also seemed on the verge of yet another reconciliation right before he died in 1984 from a brain hemorrhage.

Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson first married when Melanie was 18—they’d been dating since she was 14 and he was 22. They divorced six months later and remarried in 1989 when Melanie was 32. Her increased age didn’t help, and they again divorced, though this marriage lasted seven years and produced a daughter, Dakota.

Rapper Eminem married his high school sweetheart, Kim, in 1999, divorced her in 2001, wrote a bunch of mean songs about her, married her again in 2006, divorced her by the end of the year, and wrote some more mean songs about her. At least he got some hits out of it.

Larry King’s third and fifth wives, whom he married in 1961 and 1969 respectively, were the same woman, a Playboy bunny named Alene. They divorced for good in 1972.

Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner were married twice, once when Wood was 19 and again when she was 34. One night in 1981, they went out on a boat, had a party, and Wood ended up drowning in the ocean. They were, however, still married.

“The urge to marry the same man has to do with over-romanticizing old love or it is that what pulled you to each other, the same chemistry, is there again,” says Manhattan psychotherapist and relationship counselor Irina Firstein. “However, more often than not, the same issues come back up and cause trouble again.”

Firstein does, however, hold out a bit of hope for Marie Osmond and her new (old?) bridegroom: “Thirty years is a long time and people can change,” she says. “Or they are older and more realistic, and, having been friends all these years, there may be different, more realistic expectations. So this may make sense.”

Check back in a year.

Kiri Blakeley writes about women, pop culture, and feminism. Follow her on Twitter.

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I think it is wonderful… I was around when they married the first time. It was a marriage of two YOUNG people. they have both had enough experience to know what they DON’T want. God bless them both! I hope HE is sincere…I am sure she is…